Giant African Land Snails – Cuba’s New Steak?
Interview with a self-taught Cuban expert
HAVANA TIMES – The giant African snail is an invasive species in Cuba. It can transmit dangerous parasites, possibly causing serious or fatal illnesses. The interview that follows shouldn’t be read as an invitation to consume or raise these animals.
While walking along a small beach East of Havana, I met Ishmael [assumed name]. He’s a man of around fifty, grey-haired, a beard, and long hair in a ponytail, all giving him the appearance of something between a rock musician, a mad scientist, and a homeless wanderer. Equipped with gloves, he was gathering something among the tall grass, not far from the sandy beach where the waves were breaking. I went up to him and saw that he was collecting giant African snails with their brown striped shells, dropping them into a plastic bag.
We began to converse, although he was somewhat reticent at first. When I asked him if I could publish an interview, he consented, as long as his identity was protected. He has a university degree, but like many people in Cuba was working in a field that had nothing to do with what he studied. In addition, the salary he receives obligates him to seek other means of satisfying part of his needs.
How did you come up with the idea of eating giant African snails?
Well, in France and China they eat snails, and the giant African snail is eaten in Africa. No one ever said they weren’t edible.
They appeared in Cuba a few years before the pandemic. Immediately, the official press warned that they are a dangerous invasive species, they quickly eat any type of vegetation, they reproduce very quickly, and they can transmit dangerous diseases such as a type of meningitis through a parasitic worm. They say that the first giant snails were brought by a Babalawo [Yoruba priest] from Africa, where they’re used in a special type of ebbó [sacrifice], but once in Cuba, some escaped. Soon after, a video appeared on YouTube showing a Cuban breaking open one of these snails, frying it for a few minutes, and eating it. Quite unpleasant.
Then the pandemic came, and people and the media forgot about the issue. However, over the course of the lockdown here, those snails reproduced more, and now they’re everywhere. Look here, for example. They’re in the grass next to the beach, and there are a ton of them. After a downpour, like now, they come out to graze in industrial quantities. But they’re not aquatic animals, let alone sea animals. Salt water is harmful to them – they call it osmotic shock. That’s why when I cook them, I avoid putting them in salt water, as the recipes call for. Nor do I boil them slowly. Since I have to kill them, I want it to be instantaneous, because causing pain needlessly.- no!
As I was saying, during the pandemic and for a few years afterwards, they at least sold chicken sometimes (from the US, to be sure) and mincemeat (definitely Cuban) and in my neighborhood you could purchase these at a good price with the ration book and without a lot of problem with lines, etc. But later came this disaster, and the economic rule of the private businesses and their “partners”. So, for someone like me there’s no way to get protein regularly.
I have four artificial intelligence chatbots on my cell phone, and I asked them how to cook these creatures. Three of them recommended not doing so, but one [and it wasn’t the Chinese one] gave me a recipe. Then I “tricked” the other three by asking how to cook edible snails in general.
Do you also sell them, or do you sell any food made with their meat?
God forbid! Not at all. I want to be the only one responsible for whatever could happen, and if something does, let it happen to me alone. I also don’t want to get into trouble by acting like an idiot.
What do you do to avoid catching the diseases these creatures can transmit?
While they’re alive, I avoid touching them, and if I have to touch them, I always wear gloves. I also wear gloves when handling their poop, then I boil the gloves afterwards.
To cook them, I boil them for at least 30 minutes, then fry them in oil. That kills the pathogens.
Have you thought about breeding them?
Yes, but it would have to be discreet and well-controlled. I haven’t decided yet. I prefer to wait for clear reports from Epidemiology about the prevalence of the diseases they can transmit.
So, Ishmael, do you think that the giant African snail is our new brand of steak?
Yes, totally.
Why? Is snail meat red, like beef? Does it have a lot of protein and iron?
No! That’s not what I meant. Snails are mollusks, and they don’t have blood with hemoglobin. But they do have protein – the snail’s body is almost all muscle, that is, meat. It tastes more like chicken gizzards, with a faint hint of something like squid.
I’m saying this because you know all about the mess here in Cuba with cows, which can’t be slaughtered without government permission and trying it can get you thrown in jail for many years. That’s why there’s no beef on the market: only in dollar stores.
By the way, did you know that Cuba even exports beef, or at least it did until recently? There’s a joint venture with some Spaniards, I think, but that’s not for the people.
As for snails, what I’m trying to say is that catching them could look suspicious, because they’re an invasive species and in some cases dangerous. Walking around with a basket of those snails is like carrying a piece of cow, and I wouldn’t want to be accused of sabotage or something. That’s why I asked you to call me Ishmael, like in that novel about the whale, and not my real name.
How do you cook them?
First I select the large adult snails, the larger the better. Once home, I leave them for a few days, preferably without food so they poop. Then I boil them for 30 minutes, in salted water, with some vinegar or lemon added once they’re boiling. As soon as it falls into the boiling water, the animal dies instantly in its shell. They get hard when boiled, and lose their slime. Then you break the shell and eliminate the darkest part of the animal, which is further inside (that’s the hepatic pancreas, which is bitter and can contain traces of what the snail ate). I dry the rest and fry or sauté it for at least a few minutes, with spices and seasonings. I serve them with some kind of sauce, or with yellow rice, black beans and rice, or stews.
Have you given a name to any of your dishes?
There’s one I like best – sautéed with star anise, boiled lemon rinds, garlic, onions, and a lot of hot sauce. I call it “Death to the Invader”.